The Same Coin

Human Weapon

It hadn't taken long for Winry to fix Kimblee's watch. The mainspring had been broken, and the balance staff seemed to be damaged as well. Handlebars had gone on an abbreviated yet successful search for the replacement parts, and before the two soldiers sitting with her knew it, the watch was fixed. She hadn't thought twice when they told her that Kimblee would be back shortly; he was in a meeting, but it wouldn't take long, then he would come back. What she hadn't expected upon his return, however, was for Ed to be at his side.

She could read the dread and rage on Ed's face like an open book, and it immediately put her on edge. He wouldn't meet her gaze, his eyes instead wandering everywhere but her.

"Done already?" Kimblee asked, and Winry crossed over to him to put his watch in his hand. Ed turned away. "That didn't take you long at all, I'm very impressed. If you wouldn't mind now though, Ed and I need to borrow you."

Winry had spent the time she'd been working on Kimblee's watch thinking about what he'd said — he'd been in prison until a few months ago. If he wasn't lying then he wouldn't have been able to go anywhere, much less the Republic of Tentai. The next thing she wondered, however, was whether it could be done from afar. She had often pondered who could have done this to her without an answer, but now in Kimblee she had her first real lead — she refused to believe her dream from that night was mere coincidence. She found herself wishing Hisoka was here. He would know the answer.

Kimblee and Ed led her to the brig where Al was still shackled and confined. The soldiers there unlocked the door to the cell, and Winry glanced at Ed with suspicion as he touched the small of her back to guide her in as well. She abided, and he followed close behind.

"You'll want to sit down," Ed said solemnly.

She lowered herself onto the bench on the other side of the cell across from Al, and folded her hands in her lap. She didn't want to be here right now — she didn't want to be around Ed at all. What had happened earlier still stung, but whatever was happening, she had a feeling it couldn't wait for her to finish with being bitter. Kimblee leaned against the outside of the bars, listening.

"Winry...You were only brought to Briggs as a hostage," Ed whispered.

She sat up a little straighter, forehead creasing as she glanced between the two brothers with skepticism. "A what? What does he mean, Al? Are you joking?"

His face was grim. He wasn't.

"Listen — I've been ordered by the Fuhrer to fulfill my duties as a human weapon," he said slowly, still deliberately avoiding her gaze. "In other words, they're ordering me to help them commit mass murder."

He looked so stern. Winry finally reached out to him, putting her hand on his forearm. His gold eyes flickered up to her, but he didn't maintain the eye contact for long.

"Why don't you refuse?" she asked, his words still processing. Mass murder. Hostage. The dawn came to her then. "I see — that's why."

Ed and Al had already lost so much over the course of their lives. Their father, their mother, their bodies, their home. Even if Ed didn't care for her the same way she had for him, he would still try to protect her. And now she was a weakness being used as leverage against him.

"Just refuse," Winry said, lifting her chin defiantly.

"Winry!" Al gasped in horror. "You don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying and I resent that you presume I don't understand the gravity of the situation," she snapped. "You have to decide between orders to kill people, and letting me die. So let me die."

"I can't do that," Ed growled.

"So you'd rather kill other people?"

"No! You aren't the only factor in this, Winry."

"Then enlighten me, Ed. What else is there to this that would make you consider doing this even when you take me out of the equation?"

"They offered me a Philosopher's Stone as payment."

"A Stone?" Al gasped. "But—"

"That's right. Kimblee has one," Ed said, and both of them looked to Kimblee simultaneously. The expression on Ed's face was hateful. Winry's was of awe.

"We can't, brother. The ingredients for the Stone—"

"I know, Al."

Silence fell over the group, and Winry's rage deepened. Kimblee had brought her here as leverage against Ed to force him to "fulfill his duties as a human weapon", but even when she'd told him to factor her out he still had an excuse to go through with it. She didn't weigh into the decision at all in the end. Now that he had the opportunity to finally secure a Philospher's Stone — exactly what Edward and Alphonse had spent years trying to obtain — she wasn't even a factor. If she didn't know better, she'd have suspected this was all a charade to reveal Ed's ultimate indifference to her.

"And who knows. With the right motivation, I'm sure I can make him see reason," Kimblee had said. Kimblee had found Ed's motivation — and it had nothing to do with her.

Al's helmet lowered in resignation. "Go ahead and do what you want."

"I will," Ed snapped, before turning to Kimblee. "It's settled. I'm in, alright? But finding Scar is the first thing I want to do."

Winry's hands clenched into fists.

"Oh yeah?" Kimblee drawled. "Why's that?"

"Scar is the one who murdered Winry's parents, and they deserve vengeance."

How dare he. How could he dismiss her so easily only to turn around and use her as a justification to do what he already planned to anyway? She couldn't bear to look at him anymore.

"I see. Fine with me," Kimblee said.

Ed began to say something about Al, but she shouldered past them all, storming out of the cell. Tears made her vision bleary but she refused to let a single teardrop fall while Ed could still see her. Ahead, a pair of soldiers stepped into her path to block her way to the door.

"Let her go," Kimblee ordered, and they moved aside.

Winry lingered in front of the mirror. She had never been a woman to obsess over her reflection; her work held her interest, not her appearance. But now, staring at herself, she felt as though she didn't recognize herself anymore.

The laugh lines around her mouth and at the corners of her eyes didn't seem so deep anymore. Her face seemed thinner, her skin more sallow. She had changed into a long sleeve dress that hit a few inches above her knees, but it seemed to just hang on her frame. She'd splashed cool water on her face until her eyes were no longer red and puffy from crying, and now she pinched her cheeks to brighten them.

Winry put on a pair of flats and left her room. She wanted to talk to Ed...She wanted to sit beside him and find their way back to one another. The path they were heading down, however, seemed so dark and bleak. There wasn't a light in sight, even as she raised her hand and tapped her knuckles against the door in front of her. Kimblee's face appeared as it opened.

"I want to talk to you," Winry said.

"Isn't this a conversation you should have with Fullmetal?" Kimblee asked.

Winry shook her head. "No."

He stepped aside to allow her in, his fingers releasing the top button of his shirt as she joined him in his room. Winry closed the door behind them.